In telephony wiring, the need frequently arises for the capture and support of metallic conductors within a dielectric supporting device known as a "spring block." The metallic conductors are typically part of an assembly known as a lead frame. Prior art spring blocks use a variety of techniques to bond the dielectric material in order to support the lead frame in the proper relationship. For example, ultrasonic bonding is a technique used to join components of prior art spring blocks and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,498, which issued on Oct. 17, 1972 to Hardesty et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,442, which issued on Mar. 17, 1992 to Arnett et al. This technique, as described in the foregoing documents, requires the application of an ultrasonic wave to a spring block, which deforms the material of the spring block, thus joining the components.
Prior art spring blocks also use a technique in which a metallic conductor is inserted through an orifice in the spring block and then formed to the desired shape. This technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,497, which issued on Nov. 26, 1974 to Krumreich et al.
The prior art techniques fail to provide a reliable, compact, and simple mode of support and isolation of the metallic conductors of the lead frame. While other prior art spring blocks disclose a snap together mode of attachment, they fail to provide a variable conductor mounting surface that can accommodate various shapes and patterns of lead frames. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,192, which issued on Apr. 11, 1989 to Denkmann et al.